Be prepared to put some effort into this project, then enjoy a bowl of hearty chicken soup that is an explosion of flavor in every bite.
Prepare homemade broth the day (or two) before you want to make the soup. See next recipe for Homemade Broth.
Chop one large onion, 3 stalks of celery, and 3 carrots. Mince 2 cloves of garlic. Sauté the onion, celery, and carrot in the bottom of a large soup pot until slightly soft. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, then add the garlic for another minute. Take out the chicken stock, 2 cups of broth, and the chicken meat that you’ve already prepared over the past couple of days (see recipe for Homemade Broth, below). Chop the chicken into bite-size pieces. Add stock, broth, and chicken to the vegetables, bring the soup quickly to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Taste; adjust seasonings. If the flavor is too intense for your liking, add water in 1/2-cup portions until you’re pleased. Add freshly chopped parsley and some more thyme, if desired. Serve proudly with a smile and some freshly baked wheat bread (made from freshly ground wheat, of course).
Homemade Broth
Start this delicious process by roasting an organic chicken. I prefer using a crock-pot so I can accomplish lots of stuff while the crock-pot does its thing.
Remove outer layers from one large onion; cut it into quarters or eighths. Wash one organic lemon; cut it in half and squeeze the juice; reserve rind and juice. Remove the giblets from the cavity of one free-range organic 3-4 pound chicken, then sprinkle the cavity with salt and pepper. Stuff half the onion and half the lemon rind into the cavity. Put the rest of the onion and lemon rind in the bottom of the crock-pot, then add the chicken. Pour the reserved lemon juice over the chicken, then drizzle some olive oil over the skin, then sprinkle a quarter-teaspoon each of paprika, salt and pepper over the chicken. Add 6 sprigs of fresh parsley and several sprigs of fresh thyme over and around the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Remove the cooked chicken from the crock-pot to cool slightly. Using a slotted spoon or a colander, remove solids from the liquids. Carefully remove the skin from the chicken pieces, then take the meat off the bones. You may want to pull the meat into bite-size pieces or cut it with a knife. Cut gently in case there’s a bone you missed! Put the flavorful chicken stock in a tightly sealed container, then put the meat in another container; then put the bones in a plastic bag or a third container. Put all three containers in the fridge to cool for making soup later. Discard the remaining solids.
Now it’s time to make broth. I’ve had this recipe for over twenty years; it came from a children’s storybook and I neglected to record the source. I’m sorry to the author of that book.
1 onion
1 carrot
3 stalks celery
4 lbs of chicken bones you’ve collected for a while
16 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
8 peppercorns
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon thyme
6 cloves
6 sprigs parsley
Simmer ingredients for three hours. Strain. Cool. Skim off fat. Freeze in zip-lock bags in 2-cup portions.
